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Topic Review (Newest First)

03-08-2004, 07:40 PM

Jim Derrig 93 750

Absolutely. There is no copyright on truth.

03-08-2004, 02:18 AM

arfboo

Re: take a deep breath...

Yeah I think everyone is playing head games.....as usual. I sincerely hope that the gap closes for the sake of competition.

as you can read below even MS is well aware of the big picture:

""The car was going well, it's a step forward and more consistent to drive. It is great to leave Australia with*two more points than I had after the first three races last year. After the last test at Imola and knowing the characteristics of this track, I was sure we would be competitive but I did not expect such a performance."

Schumacher, though, is not counting on the domination that Ferrari displayed this weekend continuing for the entire 18-race season - especially in the more Michelin-suited conditions of Malaysia.

"I am keeping my feet on the ground, because this race and the weather conditions suited us perhaps better than the others. We will have to wait and see what happens in Malaysia where it will be much hotter. I do not want to predict the season based on just one race."<p align=center>
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03-08-2004, 01:53 AM

dinan540i

Re: take a deep breath...

You're right I am, but is not Williams one of the if not the most successful F1 teams ever. They have a history of perfecting radical designs and I expect this year will be no exception.

I don't pay heed to Ross Brawn's comments. Obviously he wants to play head games and second of all I doubt he can make any truly informed comments on a design which he little or no solid data.

Anyway, here's a little something from grandprix.com that sort of expands upon my feelings :

"But one should not get suicidal about one event.

After practice on Friday there were journalists wandering around, sharpening their razors and bearing their wrists, mumbling about 18 Ferraris 1-2s this year. OK, the Melbourne race was not the greatest show on earth but there were very special and obvious circumstances why Ferrari had it so easy. The temperature was low. Indeed it was cold. And that has always tended to favour Bridgestone tyres. On Saturday when the temperature was much warmer the gap was only a few tenths and would have been even smaller if Juan Pablo Montoya had not botched his qualifying run. There was a hint therefore that the Australian race may not a true representation of the relative competitiveness of the various cars.

The Melbourne track is one where Ferrari always goes well but it is not necessarily a good indication of what is to come. The Ferraris are good in Melbourne. The red cars have won in 1999 (with Eddie Irvine) and in 2000, 2001 and 2002 with Michael Schumacher. But there are not many tracks with the same characteristics as Melbourne. Down in the paddock the reaction to the Ferrari domination was far less desperate than was the case up in the press room.

"If you think back to 2002 we got blown away in Melbourne and then we came right back to win in Malaysia," said Sam Michael of BMW Williams. "It can easily turn around. If Juan had not gone off at the first corner he would have been fighting with Alonso for third place. He would not have been able to challenge the Ferraris because our cars are not good in conditions where the ambient temperature is low. And we need to tune the car to the track surface a little more effectively. But I am reasonably confident that we can do a good job in Malaysia and Bahrain. We're not too worried."

It will be a long season for sure, but perhaps you are making some pretty large assumptions on the development potential of the F2004.

OTOH the FW26 may just be a basically flawed car (I'm just saying...). Radical designs might work, or they might not, look at Renault and Mclaren.

If you parse the front tire graining problem with Ross Brawn comment that the FW26 style design did not make any sense to the Ferrari engineers because of the eccessive weight over the front wheels.....well who knows.

I think everyone but Ferrari has their work cut out for them, this was a massive display on Maranello's part.

And absolutely I hope they can step up, we want to see races not humiliations :^)<p align=center>
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03-07-2004, 03:21 PM

Jimmy P

Re: ring, ring!

Hey All,,
Been a long time reader on this board,,, just never posted here before.
Some good insightful F1 banter goes on here.
First let me say Im a BMW guy (own 3 E30 M3s - 1 street car, 1 club race car, 1 ex-BTCC Prodrive Touring Car).
This is not a bait post in any way.
I personally do believe though BMW should get out of F1 and go after Porsche / Mercedes in Sports Cars / Touring Cars where they belong... But I digress...

But,,, in the world of open wheel race cars I am a died in the wool Ferrari / Schumacher supporter (MS from back in his Benneton days).

I just wanted to say that some of the undying blind loyalty to Montoya on this board is disturbing (along with everyone just dismissing Ralph who I think is the better driver...).
I guess its not surprising though, it is a BMW board.

I think the guy (Montoya) is a liability to everyone near him.
He resumes where he left off,,, being a menace to everyone on track around him.
Every time this guy gets on a race track,,, its just a matter of time before he punts someone,,, or comes close to it.
I'll add that I'm not the only one who thinks this.
I spend a fair whack of time each year working in the UK & Europe,,, 90% of my British & German collegues agree the guy is a menace. It seems his undying fan base is largely American.

I guess I just wanted to comment that I think he's the most overrated driver on the grid.

He has balls the size of boulders,,, its amazing he can get them in the car with him,,, but his brain just does not function.
I really think he needs glasses or LASIK the way he looks at gaps and what he considers space to pass.

I just really hope he gets out of F1 before he kills someone.
Again,,, not baiting for a argument,,, just MHO.
Cheers
Jimmy P
Forza Ferrari (#7 in '04)

03-07-2004, 03:16 PM

Hans Stuck

take a deep breath...

Montoya and RS didn't get one clean lap. He would have been faster than Alonso possibly had he not gotten behind traffic, but hey that's why you can't afford to screw up your launch or qualifying. BMW also apparently was having graining problems.

The Ferrari is much easier to setup because it's an evolutionary design while the FW26 is a radical new design. Like last year they will start off slow and then become dominant once they're able to exploit the advantages of their new system while the F2004 will only improve slightly each race as it's already nearly maximized.

Things like this have happened countless times in F1. The Ferraris are about what maybe .2-4 secs faster at terminal speed right now at most with a nearly perfected setup while Williams has lots of room for improvement in their design. If this seasons follows any historical line of development then the Williams should be faster by mid-season.

But yes, I'll hand it to Ferrari. This was a perfect example of their effiency and brutal effectiveness. On the other hand one must wonder why Toyota sucks so much and why I put a heavy stake on them in the league thingy.

03-07-2004, 02:24 PM

steve.tenney

Re: Kidding aside...

Montoya had a bad start, got held up by Trulli and paid the price for that and a slightly slow pit stop. Don't know how you can say anything about Alonso being put into the wall. It looked to me like Alonso was trying to run Montoya off. No one can say there's no passing in F1. Now that Ferrari has had time to fully adapt to the new rules they are able to optimize their package.2002 AW/IR M3/SMG

Williams were looking rether pedestrian considering....well, considering they are Williams-BMW, not Jordan Ford.
Montoya had a putrid race, he almost stuffed Alonso into the wall, and later punted Ralf out of position with a Barrichello at Indy move.

I saw the FW's having trouble with BAR's and Saubers..... not the results they were hoping for.

But at least they are not as bad as Mclaren!<p align=center>
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